To know anyone irl with munchausens?

[Lw87]

Watching the gypsy rose doc, I'd never heard of munchausens disease before and can't even think I'd know anyone with it in real life

Has anyone actually had an RL encounter with someone with this?

@Lw87

Watching the gypsy rose doc, I'd never heard of munchausens disease before and can't even think I'd know anyone with it in real life

Has anyone actually had an RL encounter with someone with this?

The name Beverly Allitt probably won't much to you. She became infamous for the murder of 4 babies in her care and 9 others she tried to kill. She was a nurse in a Lincolnshire hospital. Link below. There that other nurse up on similar charges now. I expect it will be a munchausans diagnosis with her too

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beverley_Allitt

Yes, I remember the Beverley Allett case. It was the first time I read about Munchausens by Proxy as well. It was all about attention seeking in her case as well; she was even godmum to one of the babies. Completely sickening.

My aunt had it. She was a nurse so she had access to medication. She overdosed on insulin, was in a coma (I think for a long time) and eventually died. It's not talked about in my family. She died late 70s I think (before I was born). Very sad.

@damageReputation

FII is incredibly rare this thread is just bitchy and gossipy. Unless you’re with someone 24/7 you have no idea.

Lots of parents with children with hidden disabilities get accused of this or if the children have ASD and mask at school. It is an incredibly damaging accusation and not something that shown be thrown around so carelessly as there are far more cases of harm done by wrongful accusations than there are of real FII cases.

High care and mobile DLA for an under 16 is £600 a month. I think a lot of these posts are accurate and driven by that. I've seen it happen.

@Atmywitsend29

I knew someone with munchausens. At least, I suspect she had it, she was diagnosed as having a personality disorder. But the things she would do and say. Sudden onset of random chest pains and dizziness, collapsing to the floor, begging me to ring an ambulance. They'd come out and wire her up, normal results, but they'd always end up taking her in to hospital because of one thing or another. Every week a stream of pictures of her in a hospital bed, pictures of cannulas. Always a serious illness. The list of conditions she has or has had is long, meningitis, heart attacks, fibromyalgia, temporary blindness, severe breathlessness, etc. Last I spoke to her, she had some paralysis condition and was wheelchair bound, in one of those chairs with a joystick control? She fell out of it apparently and broke her wrist in such a horrific way that she can't use that hand anymore. While it's quite fascinating, I think it must be awful to be so unwell in your mental health to be like that.

What proof do you actually have that none of it is true, though???? I've had excruciating chest pains with extreme heart palpitations before and by the time the ambulance arrived, I was fine again. These things do happen

Also, Fibromyalgia is an invisible disability. There's no way you could possibly know for certain without seeing her entire medical history. You don't sound like a very nice individual at all....

Yes, induced and like others, seen in schools. As soon as you (very gently) challenge, children are whipped out of school and moved just over local authority borders so the records don't follow. Parents may not be able to control it, but on some level they know what they are doing.

I always think of Genene Jones, who murdered around 60 little kids in the hospital where she worked. She was addicted to the sentimental drama of dying children, apparently. Terrifying case. It was portrayed in a book called "The Death Shift."

I have a relative who fakes allergies and skin issues. They have been tested for all allergies and none have been found, but the doctors 'don't know everything' and 'they must be the first case'. They only get a swollen mouth (bitten lip until it swells) when they are stressed and their skin issues look self made but they have to keep 'scratching the surface to help it heal'?! All conversations start and end with all their medical issues and how the 'doctors don't know everything and must be wrong' and over the top details of every symptom. It's exhausting. I'm pretty sure their medical teams must know it's factitious disorder by now.

A woman in town, she’d been my mums carer for a while. Then she started telling everyone she had stage 3 cancer (but was still working) she only had months left. I think there was a fundraiser on her behalf for mamillans. That was ten years ago. Since then she’s claimed various other critical illnesses.

@halsley

I think most people would rather their child be healthy than have a sick /disabled child and claim DLA.
Even claiming DLA is a task in itself. Takes hours upon hours to fill form andngather together different evidence.
Most claims are refused as those deciding have so little time to go through claim they often refuse them innthe hope that people wont appeal decision.

For families on DLA they often have to take unpaid leave (or are unable to work) due to the care needs of their child and the shear amount of appointments.

I really think some posters on here have no idea how difficult it is to get a diagnosis, to get DLA, the often losing fight to get essential support for a child.

Yes there will always be a small minority that abuse the system but there are many more that cant access the help they meed

@SophieKaczynsky in my experience one poorly child means you’re more likely to have more poorly children as things are hereditary- also there are always those who imply it’s munchausens even when they know very little. It’s called F11 now but doctors will still call it by it’s old name. I suggest you educate yourself no work on your empathy.

@halsley

Then you're talking about fraud, not FII/Munchausens. Unless you're seriously suggesting that it's common for people to pretend to have FII to get DLA?!

An aside, even by government's own figures, medical benefit fraud is very rare. People who are really struggling can't get help they need.

An aside, even by government's own figures, medical benefit fraud is very rare.

Probably because they never catch most people doing it. I know someone who openly told me how her husband is medically retired and she claims carers allowance for him, but he still works full-time and she doesn't actually do anything for him.

as there are far more cases of harm done by wrongful accusations than there are of real FII cases. how could you possibly know that? Are you suggesting that children being treated, sometimes operated on, sometimes killed’t “as bad” as someone thinking you might be faking it?

I didn't realise it but as a child I had a friend who gradually became iller and iller, until she had to be in a wheelchair. There was no diagnosis but also no doubt that she was a very poorly little girl. Her mother died very suddenly when we were about 8 and almost overnight her symptoms began to improve, she started walking again and within a few months she was completely fit and active again. It was all very strange and my mother told me recently that at the time Munchausens by Proxy was suspected but couldn't be proved. Her death remains unexplained, as she had nothing wrong with her but collapsed and died instantly (in public). So sad for all involved.

@Pliudev

Don't know how that happened I was trying to say 'terminally ill woman'. But it turned out she wasn't ill in that way. This had gone on for many months and she had created convincing scenarios, shaving her head, inserting cannulas etc. She was only 'found out' when the director visited her in hospital, where she was being treated for a real illness, only to be met with incredulity when she mentioned her client's terminal condition to the ward sister.

There were many resignations but the question remained how best to support this obviously sick woman.

Crikey. Some level of boundaries would have been a good start. That is an incredibly sad story. I hope the organisation learnt a lot from that experience.

I looked after quite a few when I was nursing. They would go from hospital to hospital and change their names.

You find that it happens that parents of children with sen who push to get their children the assistance at school etc will get accused of fii.Mainly the determined parents who get backs up when they genuinely want the best for their children Fii is rare and not an actual medical condition just a name .Of course it does happen. I have never witnessed it .But I can only imagine the damage it does when a parent/parents are falsely accused. It only takes one vindictive person .But when it does happen it is a devastating as when it is being falsely accused .

@sashadasher

My DC school suspected me of having this even though my son had a full diagnosis of SENDs by consultant and walked in strange way without splints too if he didnt wear splits.Oh apparently I made that up cos he didnt walk way at school,well that's cos he wearing the splints(idiots) It came to a head as school weren't using his 1 to 1 money on him for his care at school and I complained, then they put in this accusation about me to social services.It was very stressful but it badly back fired actually onto them as we were both watched and the school were actually found at fault of neglect not me and social services couldn't find any fault.my sons GP and consultant were mega mega annoyed!!!..but the stress at the time was huge on us as a family but we got through it and once my child moved to a decent next stage school he flourished

I literally read this after I posted my post .It is as we both say it can absolutely be used as a weapon against parents with children with genuine sen needs .And it can do so much damage when it is used as a means to try and discredit a a parent.

@5zeds

as there are far more cases of harm done by wrongful accusations than there are of real FII cases. how could you possibly know that? Are you suggesting that children being treated, sometimes operated on, sometimes killed’t “as bad” as someone thinking you might be faking it?

The problem is that as we have seen from this thread, cognitively challenged people will go round armchair diagnosing left right and centre, and spreading rumours as though their armchair diagnosis is certain, causing immense problems for people who are legitimately trying to get help in already difficult circumstances.

@soldfjo nobody is diagnosing anything, what they are saying is they have seen this behind and this is what they think. What do you expect them to say?

The most famous munchausens by proxy I believe is the nurse Beverly Allitt . Caused several child deaths in hospital.

I'm convinced my late (D)M had the by proxy version, but not classically. I'm sure she was deliberately not reminding my DF to eat or giving him his insulin so he regularly has huge blood sugar drops and would become semi or unconscious. This was always conveniently if I'd done something she didn't like or was away or about to go away.
If you knew what she was like you'd likely agree with me.

@winnieanddaisy

The most famous munchausens by proxy I believe is the nurse Beverly Allitt . Caused several child deaths in hospital.

Wasn't she just a murderer?

@Passmeamenuatthetottenham

I work in education and have come across cases of suspected FII (Fabricated Induced Illness) before, although its actually very difficult to prove.

Same here.

I'm often torn between it being Fii or someone with anxiety/MH. They see everything they think unusual as an illness.

It's very complex.

I think I saw the Gypsy rose story. Was it the one where the mum drugged her and she was in a wheelchair? She escaped and her mum locked her up?